The Nuptial Bower with the Evil-One, Peeping at the Charms of Eden

In November 1796, in the midst of critical peace negotiations between England and France, the following notice appeared in the Evening Mail.

What may be the result of Lord MALMESBURY'S Embassy to Paris we do not pretend to determine; but, in the language of Mr. Puff–'this we will say,' that this country shortly promises to become the Paradise of Europe, a Gentleman of the first consideration in the country being at this time employed in negotiating a Piece in the GARDEN of EDEN. (Nov. 23, p.2.

Mr. Puff is, of course, one of the characters in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's School for Scandal, a play that satirizes (among other things) rumor mongering. In this case the rumor concerns "a Gentleman of the first consideration," Prime Minister Wiliam Pitt, and a certain young lady with the wonderful name of Eden.

Eleanor Eden

John Hoppner
Eleanor Eden
[1800]
© Wikimedia

Eleanor Eden was the 20 year old daughter of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, whose house in Beckenham was just a few miles away from Pitt's seat at Holwood. As the portrait by John Hoppner, painted a few years later suggests, she was a beautiful young woman and as Pitt's visits to Eden House increased in the winter of 1796 and into 1797, tongues continued to wag among the beau monde. In Bell's Weekly Messenger (Dec 18, p. 6), for instance, we find the following somewhat cautious assessment:

Mr. Pitt certainly pays more attention to the Hon. Miss Eden, eldest daughter of Lord Auckland, than is customary with him to lavish on the fair sex ; but that it will lead to the matrimonial finale, which some of our fashionable tabbies predict, we are not inclined to suppose.

But in the True Briton for January 5, 1797, one of the chief of those "fashionable tabbies," the Duchess of Gordon, is reported as speaking "positively of the approaching nuptials of MR. PITT and MISS EDEN."

Following the gossip of the fashionable world and the inevitable pun on Eden, Gillray has great fun with what he must have known was a ludicrous situation, showing a deliberately awkward and cartoonish Prime Minister and his uncaricatured blushing bride. Led by the God of Marriage, Hymen, with his torch, they are shown advancing towards a most peculiar nuptial bower in this satiric paradise. The bower appears to be a grape arbor, prolific of enough fruit to satisfy even a three-bottle man like Pitt. It is festooned with the ribbons, stars, and coronets representing the various honors and ranks within the peerage, which were in the power of the Prime Minister to suggest if not actually bestow, and which the bride's father, Lord Auckland, was known to covet. Inside the arbor, the marriage bed consists of sacks of Pounds which would be quite satisfactory to any newly married couple, but particularly to Pitt who was, as usual, heavily in debt.

The Nuptial Bower with the Evil-One, Peeping at the Charms of Eden

The Nuptial Bower with the Evil-One, Peeping at the Charms of Eden
[February 13, 1797]
© Trustees of the British Museum

Gillray's caption alludes to Milton's Paradise Lost thereby juxtaposing the sublime with the ridiculous. From Book VIII Gillray borrows Adam's description of his first meeting with Eve: "To the nuptial bower/ I led her blushing like the morn." And from Book IV, he borrows the situation of Satan who spies on Adam and Eve with envy of their pre-lapsarian bliss. For the role of Satan, and not for the first time, Gillray naturally turned to Charles James Fox who in any world seemed perpetually sidelined and ever envious of Pitt's success.

But in reality, there was nothing to envy. For although Pitt found Miss Eden quite charming, according to Robin Reilly, "there is no evidence that his attentions to her were ever more than courteously affectionate." (p. 321). And once Pitt realized how seriously his relationship with her was being considered in the great world, he wrote to Auckland to clarify his intentions and suspended his visits to the family.

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